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Pikes Peak Community College students to receive free textbooks for upcoming school year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for many students and their families to purchase required textbooks for classes.

But Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs has removed that financial burden for the upcoming school year, by announcing Monday that required textbooks will be free to all students seeking degrees and certificates.

PPCC is partnering with the company Slingshot, a textbook provider, to supply the free textbooks.

According to a recent survey, 65% of college students haven't bought textbooks during the COVID-19 pandemic because they couldn't afford to.

PPCC says that with more financial aid than ever before, more staff available and now free textbooks, every conceivable barrier to education has been removed and those benefits should reduce stress and improve academic performance for students.

The college received $14 million in federal pandemic recovery funds and is spending it on those additional resources.

Students will save an average of $1,000 on textbooks, which will make a big difference in the $4,813 annual tuition cost; PPCC also announced previously that it won't increase tuition for the 2021-2022 school year.

Current high school students who are taking PPCC courses aren't included in the free textbook offer because most of those students receive no-cost textbooks from their students.

PPCC and Slingshot also will prepare individual textbook orders for each student so that students won't have to spend time gathering their books.

The college has already notified students of the benefit vis email and plan to create a question-and-answer website.

The fall semester for PPCC's three campuses begins Aug. 30.

Article Topic Follows: CovidRecovery

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Scott Harrison

Scott is a reporter for KRDO. Learn more about Scott here.

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